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Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister / Robert Browning
"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning, first published in his collection Dramatic Lyrics (1842). Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister Gr-r-r--there go, my heart's abhorrence! Water your damned flower-pots, do! If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, God's blood, would not mine kill you! What? your myrtle-bush wants trimming? Oh, that rose has prior claims-- Needs its leaden vase filled brimming? Hell dry you up with its flames! At the meal we sit together; Salve tibi! I must hear Wise talk of the kind of weather, Sort of season, time of year: Not a plenteous cork crop: scarcely Dare we hope oak-galls, I doubt; What's the Latin name for "parsley"? What's the Greek name for "swine's snout"? Whew! We'll have our platter burnished, Laid with care on our own shelf! With a fire-new spoon we're furnished, And a goblet for ourself, Rinsed like something sacrificial Ere 'tis fit to touch our chaps-- Marked with L. for our initial! (He-he! There his lily snaps!) Saint, forsooth! While Brown Dolores Squats outside the Convent bank With Sanchicha, telling stories, Steeping tresses in the tank, Blue-black, lustrous, thick like horsehairs, --Can't I see his dead eye glow, Bright as 'twere a Barbary corsair's? (That is, if he'd let it show!) When he finishes refection, Knife and fork he never lays Cross-wise, to my recollection, As do I, in Jesu's praise. I the Trinity illustrate, Drinking watered orange pulp-- In three sips the Arian frustrate; While he drains his at one gulp! Oh, those melons! if he's able We're to have a feast; so nice! One goes to the Abbot's table, All of us get each a slice. How go on your flowers? None double? Not one fruit-sort can you spy? Strange!--And I, too, at such trouble, Keep them close-nipped on the sly! There's a great text in Galatians, Once you trip on it, entails Twenty-nine district damnations, One sure, if another fails; If I trip him just a-dying, Sure of heaven as sure can be, Spin him round and send him flying Off to hell, a Manichee? Or, my scrofulous French novel On grey paper with blunt type! Simply glance at it, you grovel Hand and foot in Belial's gripe; If I double down its pages At the woeful sixteenth print, When he gathers his greengages, Ope a sieve and slip it in't? Or, there's Satan!--one might venture Pledge one's soul to him, yet leave Such a flaw in the indenture As he'd miss till, past retrieve, Blasted lay that rose-acacia We're so proud of! Hy, Zy, Hine... 'St, there's Vespers! Plena gratia Ave, Virgo! Gr-r-r--you swine! Synopsis The speaker notes the trivial ways in which Brother Lawrence fails in his Christianity, and then plots to murder Brother Lawrence or damn his soul. However, the poem ends before the speaker can finish, when he is interrupted by the bells proclaiming it is time for vespers. The poem deals with themes of pride, jealousy, and moral hypocrisy. It develops the character of the speaker as a covetous monk, who hates Brother Lawrence only because he wants what his fellow monk has. The speaker attempts to present reasons and justifications for his hate. In the second stanza he attempts to paint Lawrence as prideful, in the third as having possessions beyond his means (such as his own drinking goblet). In the fourth, he attempts to accuse Brother Lawrence of having licentious thoughts toward women, showing only his own capacity for such thoughts. The list only grows until we reach the seventh stanza in which we view a revelation of the speaker's character- he is not only a jealous man, but an evil man as well, resolving that he wants to find a way to condemn Brother Lawrence's soul to hell. He thinks up a plan to trick Brother Lawrence into reading a French novel (implied to be sexual), damning the Brother's soul immediately. Amusingly, we as readers are left wondering how the speaker knows the contents of the French novel if he is such a pious monk. Failing the novel ploy, the speaker resolves that he could always sell his own soul to the devil to also condemn Lawrence's- then the poem ends as the speaker is distracted by the call to Vespers. See also *Other poems by Browning References *Lecture on the subject — English 262 "A Survey Of British Literature", Columbus State Community College "Global Campus" * * Abstract: Heldref Publications. Excerpt: FindArticles. * * * Excerpt: JSTOR. External links ;Text *"Song of the Spanish Cloister" at the Academy of American Poets ;Audio / video *Song of the Spanish Cloister at YouTube ;About *Song of the Spanish Cloister" at Schmoop Category:1842 poems Category:Humorous poems Category:Poetry by Robert Browning Category:Text of poem Category:19th-century poems Category:English poems